I'm not a food critique, just a food lover and shares the joy with others out there....Please do note that taste is a matter of individual opinion and can differ from one to another. All views expressed here are purely based on my taste buds and preferences......

Wednesday, 14 September 2016

Restoran Claypot Junction @ Tanjung Malim, Perak

Restoran Claypot Junction is a restaurant that has been in operation for about a year now and they are located in Taman Angeerik Desa, Tanjung Malim which is directly opposite the Thandayuthapani Temple. I have blogged about this restaurant before when they first opened but that entry was solely focused on their Mixed Rice variety that is served for lunch. This restaurant is open daily from 10 am till 3 pm and then again from 6 pm till 10 pm. During the first session, they only do Chinese Mixed Rice and come dinner, they serve a number of dishes like any other Chinese restaurant and all the dishes are served in claypots hence the name Claypot Junction. I must agree that their food is good and that was based on my experience trying out their Mixed Rice on a number of occasions though the prices are slightly premium. Well, I seriously don't mind paying for that slight premium since the food tastes good. Somehow, we had always avoided coming here for dinner. No specific reason for that but I guess it'ssimply because we usually prefer something light for dinner. Today, I made it a point to come here for dinner with my parents simply because it was a visit that was way overdue. Moreover, these guys are located a mere three minutes away from my place.

The Restaurant in Taman Anggerik Desa, Tanjung Malim

A Handful Of Customers

We were here around 8 pm and the place wasn't too crowded. In fact, I have never seen this place crowded for dinner but it certainly is very crowded for lunch. I guess just like us, most people have marked this place as a lunch venue. Still, they had a good flow of customers coming in in batches. Throughout the two hours that we were here, they had around close to 12 tables that were occupied and assuming that was like RM 30 per table, that's not bad for a quiet night. One thing that I love about this restaurant is the breeze that blows through in the evenings. Being a corner unit, they are lucky to have this breeze that blows through all the time making it such a pleasurable dining experience. Fans are least needed because of that breeze.

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The above are just some of the pages from their menu. Quite an elaborate offering they have and most of their dishes comes in three size options, small, regular and large. Of course you don't get those exquisite seafood items here. Even a full fish is not available but you do get fillets. Forget about crabs and other seafood items as well. Otherwise, they have a good selection of dishes, noodles, fried stuffs and also some individual dishes like rice and sweet & sour pork etc. Prices again were about 10% to 15% more than the other restaurants but it would be acceptable if the food was good. After going through their menu, we placed our orders.

Chinese Tea @ RM 0.50

Cutlery, Soy Sauce and Garlic with Bird Eye Chili

At night's, the restaurant is basically manned by three people. Two young chaps, a guy and a girl man the shop floor and another middle aged guy does the cooking. For the kind of crowd that they have for dinner, the three of them are more than enough as they tend to handle it pretty well. If you come for lunch, you'd see a much larger manpower team managing the restaurant. It wasn't too long a wait and one by one, the dishes started arriving.

Claypot Loh She Fun (Small) @ RM 6.00

All Stirred Up

The first dish to arrive was the above Claypot Loh She Fun. I must confess that the portion was good for the price. It was good to fill three small bowls to the brim and that seemed like very reasonable to me. Just like I had mentioned earlier, it was a little more pricey as the common price in town for a similar dish would be around RM 5.00 but for me it was acceptable for two reasons. Firstly, it tasted really good. Very good in fact. And secondly, we don't get Loh She Fun elsewhere in town. The noodles were all good, came with lots of shrimps and pork and it tasted fantastic. I would give this a 9/10.

Rice Porridge with Pork & Century Eggs (Small) @ RM 7.00

Rich With Ingredients

If I said that the earlier Loh She Fun was good, this Rice Porridge with Pork and Century Eggs were heavenly! Just look at the amount of the ingredients used. It came with so much pork, century eggs and ginger and the one that truly gave it a marvelous taste was the lavishly used ginger. Honestly, I never liked rice porridge simply because of the flat taste but this one was something else all together. If this is how porridge would taste, I wouldn't mind having this on a daily basis. Each scoop was filled with a burst of flavours and it was served piping hot. Truly some marvelous porridge and it deserves a rating of nothing less than a perfect 10/10.

Claypot Tofu with Roasted Pork Belly (Small) @ RM 8.00

Wow! This Claypot Tofu with Roasted Pork Belly was another fantastic preparation. So many components to this dish that carried it's taste so well. Firstly, the tofu was so good. It had a crispy but fragile skin and the inside was so soft, juicy and delicious. Secondly, it was the pork belly. I wonder how they had roasted it so well. Fatty, crunchy, crispy and chewy..... it was just awesome. And finally was the broth. Wow, another amazingly done dish. I have tasted the similar dish in other restaurants and none can come close to this one. Again, a 10/10 for this!

Claypot Kung Pow Chicken (Small) @ RM 10.00

Their Claypot Kung Pow Chicken was another dish that lived up to it's reputation. It came with lots of chicken bits, dried chilies, green pepper and onions served in a dark and spicy broth. Good but it could have been better and would have tasted good if they had added some cashew nuts. Still, a good preparation it was and I would give this a 8/10.

Claypot Fish Fillet with Ginger & Spring Onions (Small) @ RM 12.00

This Claypot Fish Fillet with Ginger and Spring Onions was surely better than the earlier chicken dish. The fish fillet's were fresh, sliced at just the right thickness and the one that truly boosted the taste was the lavish ginger slices. Mildly salty, gingery yet delicious. I would rate this at 9/10.

Claypot Pork Belly with Salted Fish (Small) @ RM 10.00

Claypot Pork Belly with Salted Fish (Small) @ RM 10.00

Just like the earlier Rice Porridge and Tofu dish, their Claypot Pork Belly with Salted Fish was another heavenly dish. Another potpourri of ingredients that took it to another level. Thinly sliced pork belly, salted fish, spring onions, dried chilies, onions and thinly sliced ginger were served in a spicy dark broth.. Totally mind blowing stuff and I would give this a perfect 10/10. Another dish that I would highly recommend here.

In summary, I totally loved their Rice Porridge, Tofu with Pork Belly and the Pork Belly with Salted Fish. The other two Loh She Fun and Fish Fillet in Ginger were good as well but weren't up to this level. The Kung Po Chicken was just an above average preparation. After having tried some of their dishes tonight, I would conclude that this would surely be another great place for dinner in Tanjung Malim. Slightly premium but totally worth it. And yes, I am coming back for more soon and also to have another helping of their Rice Porridge.